NetMesh Inc. has announced its proposed solution for the digital ID problem. Called LID (Lightweight ID), it gives the user complete control over her digital ID by putting the actual info on the user’s site. It differs from the Identity Commons idea by using a simple URL as the pointer to the information, rather than a special “URN”; a url has the advantage of being more familiar, and is accessible to anyone who knows how to type in a Web address. LID supports standards, including Jabber’s XML version of VCards, FOAF and XPath. In his blog, NetMesh’s Johannes Ernst argues that it also supports Kim Cameron’s Laws of Identity.

Unfortunately, currently to create a LID, you have to have your own URL, have to be comfortable loading a Perl script, and have to have GPG and the right Perl XPath module installed. I asked Johannes via email why that isn’t too high a hurdle. (It’s too high for me. At the very least, I’d like a LID-o-Matic that, like FOAF-a-Matic, creates a LID file for me.) He replied that they’re aiming initially at the tech community, releasing code that allows would-be LID implementors to understand how it works and what’s required to support it, hoping that that will light a fire that will encourage some horizontal apps to take advantage of the standard. Johannes tells me that NetMesh is working with several organizations that are planning their own LID implementations targeted more towards mainstream consumers.

I also asked Johannes what happens if I change urls. He responded with a set of ways that could be handled. For example, they could add a “secured. forward” protocol to LID, a centralized server could let a 404’ed LID URL look for the new one, or, “most intriguingly, one could use one’s social network (basically the content of the FOAF file) to ‘vouch’ for somebody’s new LID URL. (That’s the way the real world works and it wouldn’t be very hard to codify in software…).” But his key point was: “All ideas that I mentioned can be implemented by people other than us — just like new vocabularies (VCard, FOAF, … whatever-is-hot-next-week) — which makes LID more than just an identity technology but a true platform for identity-related innovation. And at the end of the day, that’s what is exciting about LID.”

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